Category / Featured academics

TetraGrip: A functional electrical stimulation (FES) device for restoring hand and arm functions in people with spinal cord injuries

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.TetraGrip

 

Speaker: Lalitha Venugopalan

 

Lalitha is a Bournemouth University Creative Technology postgraduate student researching for a PhD in Biomedical Engineering based at the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.

 

Title:   TetraGrip: A functional electrical stimulation (FES) device for restoring hand and arm functions in people with spinal cord injuries

 

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 18th November 2015

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract:

TetraGrip is a four channel upper limb FES device for restoring the hand and arm functions on people with C5-C7 tetraplegia. This device uses an inertial measurement sensor (IMU) for detecting the shoulder elevation/depression. The signal from the IMU is used for controlling the functions of the stimulator and for adjusting the grasp strength.

 

The stimulator is programmed to operate in the following modes: exercise, key grip and palmar grasp. Key grip mode (fig 1) is used to grasp smaller objects like a pen or a fork, whereas the palmar grasp (fig 2) is used to grasp larger objects like a glass. The exercise mode is used to strengthen the forearm muscles.

Grip_Grasp

 The system will be clinically tried on ten able bodied volunteers to evaluate the repeatability and reproducibility. If the results from this study are found to be satisfactory, then the device will be clinically tried on tetraplegic volunteers for answering the following questions:

  • Is possible for a person with tetraplegia to generate the desired input signal to control the operation of the device?
  • Does the system improve the hand and arm functions of the user?
  • Is the system easy to use for people with tetraplegia?

 

We hope to see you there.

Congratulations to Prof. Brooks

BU Professor Ann Brooks has been made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS).

  Ann Brooks

Ann Brooks is Professor of Sociology at Bournemouth University since January 2015. Ann has held senior positions in universities in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand and has held visiting fellowships and scholarships in Singapore and the USA. She was a Visiting Professor at the Institute of Health and Community at Plymouth University in 2014 and was previously a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore and a Visiting Scholar in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is author of Academic Women (Open University Press, 1997); Postfeminisms: Feminism, Cultural Theory and Cultural Forms (Routledge, 1997); Gender and the Restructured University (Open University Press, 2001); Gendered Work in Asian Cities: The New Economy and Changing Labour Markets (Ashgate, 2006); Social Theory in Contemporary Asia (Routledge, 2010); Gender, Emotions and Labour Markets: Asian and Western Perspectives (Routledge, 2011) and Emotions in Transmigration: Transformation, Movement and Identity (Palgrave 2012) (with Ruth Simpson). Recent books include: Consumption, Cities and States: Comparing Singapore with Cities in Asia and the West (Anthem Press, 2014) (with Lionel Wee); Popular Culture, Global Intercultural Perspectives (Palgrave, 2014); and Emotions and Social Change: Historical and Sociological Perspectives (Routledge, New York, 2014) (edited with David Lemmings). Her latest book is: Genealogies of Emotions, Intimacies and Desire: Theories of Changes in Emotional Regimes from Medieval Society to Late Modernity (2016 Routledge, New York).

Further information on this year’s new Fellows can be found here!

 

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

 

The use of VectorPixels to represent Photographic images

WeVectorPixels would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.

 

Speaker: Alain Simons

 

 

Alain is new lecturer at Bournemouth University, teaching on the Games Technology/Games Programming courses, and this is an opportunity to learn about his PhD research.

 

Title:   The use of VectorPixels to represent Photographic images

 

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Date: Wednesday 28th October 2015

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract: Photographic images are represented by a grid of pixels. Each pixel has a colour value (3 different ones for RGB colour Images) so that computations are very easy to do.   However the number of pixels that are available is increasing at a faster rate every year. Images also need to be transported as in every other digital information. Two problems are arising with the growing amount of pixels. How can 4K images will be transported over the internet? How long will it take to compute 8K images? Those questions are tackled for the moment with better compression techniques and faster CPUs, but they have their limits. VectorPixels want to start from scratch, a new approach, a new algorithm to visualize images on screen. No hardware is available at the moment to capture VectorPixels so for creating VectorPixels ordinary pixel information will be used. Our algorithm is made up of three components namely trace, calculate and save. A VectorPixel is a vector based pixel as the word itself indicates.

 

We hope to see you there.

Faculty of Management research seminar series resumes with talk on accounting, rhinoceroses and sustainability

Professor Jill Atkins of Henley Business School at the University of Reading will speak to the first of a new series of staff research seminars organized in the Faculty of Management on Wednesday, October 14, at 15:00 at Bournemouth House, BG14. Her topic, “Exploring rhinoceros conservation and conversation: The emergence of emancipatory accounting for ‘extinction’,” links problems of sustainability of natural resources with theoretical developments that seek to take better account of the environment.
On October 21 (also 15:00 in BG14) the research seminar series, organised by Drs. George Filis and Christos Apostolakis, will hear a paper drawing on identity theory from Dr. Caroline Rock of Anglia Ruskin University concerning “Authenticity in the Workplace”.
Starting on October 28 the seminar series will link with a new season of the discussion forum for postgraduate researchers and staff. That week the PhD forum (now on Wednesdays at 14:00) in BG14 will hear from its organiser, Dr. Fabian Homberg, on “‘Conversations’ and expectations, literature searches and open questions”. Then at 15:00 Dr. Davide Parrilli, newly recruited as Associate Professor in the business school, will speak on “STI and DUI Innovation Modes: Scientific-Technological and Context-specific Nuances” – exploring the differences between science-led and use-led innovation.
Please join us. Both series are open to everyone interested in the research, across all faculties.

Geographical Indications in the EU: policy options and future developments.

Centre for Intellectual Property Policy and Management (CIPPM) researcher Nicola Coppola recently hosted a symposium on “Geographical Indications in the EU: policy options and future developments’. The event, sponsored by Grana Padano and CIPPM, was attended by some of the main UK and European scholars in the field, as well as by experts from DEFRA, UK Intellectual Property Office and WIPO.

Law PGR Evangelia Papadaki and UG Law students Hannah Pateman and Edwin Osejindu, coordinated by Kerry Rowland-Hill from the Events office, helped with the organization of the symposium. The event also benefitted from the expertise of BU RKEO and of senior CIPPM members, including CIPPM Director Prof Maurizio Borghi, who opened the morning session.

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The speakers and delegates explored various aspects of the EU legal schemes aimed at protecting those agricultural products which have a link with a geographic place, and the variety of legal challenges surrounding the proposed expansion of such schemes to non-agricultural products.

The symposium on GIs, the first for a long time in UK academia, generated new ideas to be explored, with the intention of working up one of these ideas as funding applications and co-authored publications.

More info, including the list of speakers, can be found on the CIPPM website at:

https://microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk/cippm/2015/09/11/symposium-geographical-indications-in-the-eu/

Real-time Physics for Games

We would like to invite you to the latest research seminar of the Creative Technology Research Centre.

Speaker: Dr Wen Tang

 

Title:   Real-time Physics for Gamescompare-b

 

Time: 1:00PM-2:00PM

Date: Wednesday 14th October 2015

Room: KG03 LT, Kimmeridge House, Talbot Campus

 

 

Abstract:Without accurate physics simulation, even the most beautiful game feels static and lifeless”- PhysX.

Developing fundamental computational algorithms and software pipelines that can truly unleash the power of physics simulation in computer games has been a major research activity in computer graphics.

This talk will present soft body simulation algorithms and a scalable software framework that are capable of handling simulation realism and computational efficiency to satisfy unpredictable user interactions and fast responses in computer games. Soft bodies such as cloth and solid deformable objects offer special visual effects in film, computer games, virtual reality and medicine. These objects are not only computationally expensive to simulate due to a wide range of material properties, but are also difficult to design and to control the simulation effects. This talk will also describe the latest research direction in how to develop institutive tools by deriving mathematic expressions using simple curves. Designers can then edit physics via direct modifications of curve profiles since they represent underpinning physical behaviour of the soft bodies.

 

We hope to see you there.

Assistive Music Technology

SenseEggSystemWe would like to invite you to the first research seminar of new academic year for the Creative Technology Research Centre.

 

Speaker: Asha Blatherwick

 

Title:   Assistive Music Technology

 

Date: Wednesday 30th September 2015

Time: 2:00PM-3:00PM

Room: P302 LT, Poole House, Talbot Campus

 

Abstract: Music is essential to most of us. It can light up all areas of the brain and help to develop skills with communication and establishing identity. People use musical experiences to create meaning and coherence in states and times of adversity using its transformative properties. Music can be explored actively by playing instruments, or passively, such as listening to music and can be used to enter a state of flow.

Exploring music actively in this way can be restricted for someone with cognitive, physical, or sensory impairments. The barriers they face may cause gaps between their musical gestures and the music making means available to them. Using technology, we can bridge these gaps by focusing on a person’s capability to create personal instruments that allow for active music making and exploration of sound. Technology can be used to turn tiny movements into huge sounds and tangible user interfaces can be used to investigate the relationship between the physical and digital world, leading to new modes of interaction.

My research will take an Action Research approach to create bespoke tangible tools that combine hardware and software, allowing users to create and explore sound using their capabilities in a participatory way.

 

We hope to see you there.